Manufacture of shoes



May 14, 1940.

C. ROBERTS El AL MANUFACTURE OF SHOES Filed July 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 14, 1940. ROBERTS 5 AL I 2,200,375

MANUFACTURE OF SHOES Filed July 25, 193B 2 She ets-Sheet 2 Patented May 14, 1940 PATENT orries 2,200,375 MANUFAGI'UR'E 0F snons Clifford Roberts, Winchester, and John B. Harlaway, Swampscott, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation,

Borough of Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July '25, 1938, Serial No. 221,050

13 Claims.

This invention relates to the making of shoes, it being especially concerned with the heel-seatportion thereof.

It is an object of the invention to produce a shoe the insole of which may readily and accurately be located upon its last, which shoe, at the heel-end of the insole, will retain substantially the transverse contour of the last-bottom, will have a close crease and will offer means for attaching a. heel to the heel-seat in a. secure manner I In the attainment of this object, a feature of the invention lies in a method of shoemaking which consists in attaching a plate "to and thus locating it upon the heel-seatportion of a last,

thereafter assembling parts of a. shoeupon the last, certain of said parts being located upon thelast-bottom by interengaging means formed in said parts and plate prior to their association. Fastenings clinched upon the plate preferably are employed for securing these parts. Thereafter, the assembled parts are removed from the last, together with the plate as a portion of the shoe. One of the parts thus assembled will consist of an insole, and this is located upon the last-bottom under the guidance of the plate, as by pro- I jections from said plate which pass through openings in the insole. These projections may then be upset upon the insole to attach it to the plate.- Since this securing means may be situated closer to the periphery of the heel-seat than such fastenings as the heel-seat nails, and since it resists distortion, a permanently tight crease will result. To attach a heel to the heelseat, one or more fastenings are inserted through the plate into the heel. The engagement of the fastening-heads with the plate will p from being pulled through the heel accidental detachment of the heel is if tively resisted.

As another feature of the invention, sults fromthe performance of the above method, a shoe having a plate attached to thelinner face of its insole by projections passing through saidinsole and having an upper lasted over'the margin of the insole at the side opposite the plate. The projections are preferably integral with the plate, and the insole to receive them has openings elongated longitudinally. This facilitates the correct positioning of the insole upon the plate, independent of shrinking or like changes in form. The fastenings used in this lasting operation, as the tacks, may be clinched upon the outer side of the plate. Consequently, there will be no irregularities at the-inner side of the insole caused by the overturned ends of these fastenings. The same advantage is gained with respect to the nails orother fastenings which secure the heel-seat. Through the heel-seat, a fastening, for example a screw, passes into a 5 heel positioned thereon. The plate offers unfailing resistance to accidental separation of the heel. The transverse contour of the plate may be substantially that of the last, and this form will remain unchanged in the wear of the shoe, 10 as will also the closeness of the crease, held by the attachment of the insole in proximity to the periphery of the rigid plate.

A further feature of the invention may be found in a' reinforcing and locating means which 15 is transferred from the last to the shoe, of which itbecomes a part. This reinforcing means comprises a plate, best of sheet-metal, having a transverse contour corresponding to the heelseat-portion of the last with which it is to be 2 employed, which form it will maintain in the shoe. The plate has a series of projections about the margin'which will position an insole relatively to it, while at the center is a projection furnishing a depression at the side of theplate opp'o- 25 site the marginal projections and adapted to receive the head of a screw by which the heel I is attached. This will locate the surface of the head flush with the inner surface of the plate. Other openings in the plate may receive retain- 30 ing means by which the plate is temporarily held upon the last to position the insole for the operations upon it.

Still another feature of the invention involves an insole utilized in carrying out the novel method. This insole has transverse slots near the forward and rear extremities of the heel-seatportion, which slots may receive, means for securing it to the last; narrow longitudinal slots about the margin of the heel-seat-portion, the projec- 4o .tions upon the co-operating plate entering these; and a relatively wide longitudinal slot nearthe center into which the fastening-receiving projection from the reinforcing plate passes. The elongationof the openings allows movement of the insole upon theJast-bottom to effect its final location after it has been initially positioned-by the plate-projections.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 shows in broken side elevation the heel- 50 end of one form of the shoe of this invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, perspective views of a reinforcing plate and of the rear extremity of an insole which furnish parts of the shoe;

Fig, 4 is a similar view of the heel-end of a 55 last upon which the shoe-parts may be assembled;

Fig. 5, in a like manner, shows the last with the plate in place upon it;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view in which appears the insole added to the assembly;

Fig. 7, a bottom plan view of the work after the lasting of the upper;

Fig. 8 illustrates in broken side elevation the orfflration of drilling for theattachment of a heel, w e

Fig. 9 similarly shows the insertion of an attaching screw in the drilled opening.

At L- in the drawings appears the heel-end of a last, which may be.generally of any desired form and having a spindle-hole III of sufllcient diameter to pass the head ofa heel-attaching screw. Projecting from the heel-seat-surface are means for separably retaining upon the last a plate P. Three such means are illustrated and are best seen in Figs. 4 and 5. Extending vertically into the heel-end of thelast and located at opposite sides near the ends of the breastline and at the center of the rear are three bores i2. Registering with each bore is an opening H in the last-plate I6. The opening is of somewhat less diameter than that of the bore, so there is an overhanging portion of the plate at 18. In the bore is a cup-shaped plunger 23, upon which rests the coils of a spring 22 of the scissors type. One arm of the spring extends through the plate-opening l4 and has an angular portion 24, while the other arm 26 is shorter, terminating within the bore and being forced against the overhang l8 by an expansion-spring 28 situated between the bottom of the boreand the plunger. The-spring 22 is thus held against accidental separation from the last.

The plate P is preferably of sheet-metal and has a peripheral contour substantially that of the heel-seat-portion of the last upon which it is to be mounted, and therefore that of the shoe which is to be made over the last. The transverse contour of the plate also corresponds to that of the he'el-seat-portion of the last, being flat or more or less convex, as the case may be. In the plate, po

sitioned to correspond to the spring-retaining arms 24, are three openings 30 located near the ends of the breast-line and close to the rear of the longitudinal axis. The breast-openings are elongated transversely of the plate, and the rear opening longitudinally thereof, they being all in the form of slots. This permits these openings to be applied to ends 24 of the spring-arms and, by the engagement of their outer extremities, cam these arms inwardly. When the inner face of the plate is seated upon the last, said plate will have passed the angular portions of the arms, and these, thus released, will expand outwardly over the plate to hold it temporarily upon the last. Upon completion of the making operations,

performed while the shoe is upon the last and when the plate has become a part of the shoestructure, the pulling of the last causes the springs to yield and release the plate. This is because the inner angular portions of the projections 24 cam in thearms as the outer ends of the slots 30 press against them. In addition to the slots 30, the plate P is provided about its margin with a" series of projections 32 and with a central projection 34. The projections 32 are integralwith the plate, being shown as struck from the body thereof. These lie .close to the periphery of said plate, with their width extending longitudinally and their ends rounded to facilitate their entrance into openings in an insole I. The pro- :Iection 34- is preferably molded in the plate, it being of concave-convex form, extending out- "wardly about an opening 36 at thesame side as the projections 32, and furnishing at its inner side a depression which is adapted to receive and hold the head of a heel-attaching 'screw, with its pression 42 to receive the plate P, so the upper side thereof will lie in the same plane as the corresponding portion of the forepart of the insole. In the heel-seat-portion of the insole are elongated openings or slots 44 through which, when the insole is applied to the last, the plate-projections 32 may extend. The form and location of ,these openings is such that when an insole'is thus assembled with the. plateon the last, it will be correctly located both transversely and angularly. The slots 44 are shown as longer than the projections are wide, and this allows some longitudinal movement of the insole to compensate for changes in its dimensions, as by shrinking. The insole may thus be shifted along the last, until its toe-end is in the desired registration with the forward extremity of the last. In this application of the insole to the plate on the last, the arms 24 of the retaining springs 22 find slots 43 to receive them, the dimensions of the slots being such that the movement of adjustment of the insole will not be interfered with. 'For the reception of the projection 34 of the plate, there is a longitudinally extended slot 48 in the insole. With the insole correctly located by the plateprojections 32 and gaged with respect to the forward extremity of the last, said projections are upset, as appears in Fig. 6. The plate and insole are thereby firmly connected and held upon the last, being ready for the assembling of the other shoe-parts.

As the next step, an upper U is lasted over the insole and united thereto by tacks t, which pass through themargin of the upper inside the series of projections 32 and are clinched against the outer surface of the plate P, being separated thereby from the inside of the shoe. Following this, the outsole S is laid and attached, and the other related operations performed, including the securing of the heel-seat by nails n. Like the tacks it, these nails come within the line of the plate-projections 32. When the step of attaching a heel H is reached, said heel is clamped with an interposed adhesive. upon the heel-seat, and a hole is formed by a drill 52 through the heelopening 56. When the drill and its sleeve have i been withdrawn from the spindle-hole of the last, a screw, s is dropped in, point'down, and is 75 I 2,200,876 centered in the correct relation to the drilled seat into that in the'heel. The shank displaces the quill-arms, and the screw is finally fully in serted, with its head sunk in the depression about the plate-opening 36. In this operation, the heelseat-material is firmly clamped between the plate and the periphery of the heel-cup, said plate being capable of resisting any driving force which may be applied to the screw. It added heeL-securing means is desired, especially to more positively prevent pivoting of the heel about the central screw, nails N maybe driven through the plate-openings 38- into the heel. After the last has been pulled, thus separating the plate-openings 30 from the retaining arms 23, a cushion 0 may be cemented over the inner surface of the 'plate, and a sock-lining I added.

It will be observed that by this procedure a sole may be quickly and accurately located upon a last and secured through a plate which is to become with it a part of a shoe, this being without interference with theready separation of these elements from ,the last when it is pulled. There is provided a heel-seat which may have any chosen transverse contour over the insole, with the margin of the insole held against distortion and insuring a tight crease, these eiiects being permanent because of the rigidity of the plate. To the heel, there is offered secure attachment, with no possibility of the fastenings being torn from the heel-seat-material.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of shoemaking which consists in locating a plate on the heel-seat-portion of a last, thereafter assembling parts of a shoe upon the last, one of said parts being located upon the last-bottom by interengaging means formed in said part and said plate prior to their association, and removing from the last the assembled parts together with the plate as a portion of the shoe.

2. The method of shoemaking which consists in locating a. plate on a last, locating an insole transversely upon the last-bottom under the guidance of the plate by interengaglng means formed in said insole and plate prior to their association, assembling other parts of a shoe upon the last, and removing from the last the assembled parts.

3. The method of shoemaking which consists in attaching to the heel-seat-portlon of a last a reinforcing member, assembling parts of a shoe upon the last, attaching a heel to the heel-seat of the shoe by fastenings passing through the reinforcing member, and removing from the last the assembled parts.

4. The method of shoemaking which consists in applying to a last a plate provided with projections at the side opposite the last, applying to the last an insole having openings to receive the projections, fixedly attachingthe insole to the plate, assembling other parts of the shoe upon the last and attaching them to the insole, and removing the last from the assembled parts including the plate as a portion of the shoe.

5. The method of shoemaking which consists in applying to 'a last a plate provided with'projections at the side opposite the last, applying to the last an insole having openings to receive, the projections, upsetting the projections to at-- tach the insole to the plate, assembling other parts of the shoe upon the last and attaching them to the insole, and removing the last from the assembled parts.

6. The method of shoemaking which consists in locating upon a last by interengaging means a plate provided with projections at the side opposite the last, applying to the last an insole having openingsto receive the projections and being larger than said projections, positioning the insole upon the last-bottom as permitted by such larger openings, assembling other parts of the shoe upon the last and attaching them to the insole, and removing the last from the assembled parts.

7. The method of shoemaking which consists in applying to the heel-seat-portion of a last a plate provided with projections at the side opposite the last and with an opening, applying to the last an insole having openings to receive the projections and thereby determine the position of said insole upon the last, assembling other parts of the shoe upon the last and attaching them to the insole, attaching a heel to the heel-seat by a fastening inserted through the plate-opening, and removing the last from the assembled parts.

8.'A shoe comprising an insole provided with slots in the heel-seat-portion and'extending longitudinally thereof, a plate attached to the inner face of the insole by integral projections passing through the slots and upset upon the outer side, and an upper lasted over the margin of the insole at the side opposite the plate.

' 9. A shoe comprising an insole, a plate having at its central portion an opening surrounded by a depression at its inner side and attached to the inner face of the insole by projections passing from the plate through said insole, an upper lasted over the margin of the insole at the side opposite the plate, an outsole secured to the insole, and a heel attached tothe heel-seat by a screw passing through the plate-opening with its head seated in the depression.

10. Reinforcing means for the heel-seat of a. shoe comprising a plate having a peripheral contour corresponding to that of the heel-seat-portion of a last, there being a series of projections upon the margin of the plate and a central projection furnishing a depression at the side of the plate opposite the marginal projections and adapted to receive a. screw-head.

11. Reinforcing means for the heel-seat of a shoe comprising a plate of sheet-metal having a peripheral contour corresponding to that of the heel-seat-portion of a last and a transverse contour approximating that of the last-bottom to which it is to be applied, there being a series of projections struck from the body of the plate about its margin at the side opposite the lastbottom and a concavo-convex central portion in which the head of a heel-attaching screw may be seated at the side toward the last-bottom.

12. Reinforcing means for the heel-seat of a shoe comprising a plate of sheet-metal having a peripheral contour corresponding to that of the heel-seat-portion of a last and a transverse contour approximating that of the last-bottom to which it is to be applied, there being a series of projections struck from thebody of the-plate about its margin at the side opposite the lastbottom, openings in the plate to receive retaining means upon the last and a concave-convex cehtral portioh in which the head of a. heelof the heel-seat-portion, and a relatively wide attaching screw may be seated at the side toward longitudinal slot near the center of the heel-seatthe last-bottom. portion 13. An insole having slots near the breast-eor- CLIFFORD ROBERTS. 5 ners and the rear extremity of the heel-seat-por- JOHN B. EADAWAY. 5

tion, narrow longitudinal slots about the margin 

